lundi 2 juillet 2018

My interview with Erin Watt : discover more about the Royal Series, One Small Thing and much more

Hi
Erin Watt

Crédit photo : Françoise Le Monde de Francesca

First
of all thanks a lot for answering my questions.

French
readers know you thanks to the Royals series. Is it the first series
you wrote together?

Yes! The Royal
series was the first time we wrote together. We shared a mutual love
of new adult books, but wanted to try something totally different
than what we were writing. We wanted to write cracktastic stories,
cliffhangers, and wild storylines.

How
did you decide to work together?

We had a shared
love of football and romance novels, and after exchanging multiple
emails we decided to write the books that we wanted to read. After
that, the plan for Paper Princess and the Royal series quickly
developed.

How
do you do to write together? What are your writing rituals?

We usually plan
and plot the stories and series ahead of time, in detail. After that,
we take turns writing about 2000 words each, and send chapters/scenes
back and forth. Then we each take a turn editing the story, and
sometimes we don’t even remember who wrote what!

Is
is easier to write together or to write you own books as Elle Kennedy
and Jen Frederick?

The process is
very different when writing with another person. In some ways it’s
easier and other ways it’s harder. You have someone to bounce ideas
off of and help move the writing process forward. However, writing on
your own is also rewarding in that we can each take our own time, and
write the stories as they develop.

Is
it easier to write a series together or standalones like One small
thing or When it's real?

It’s easier to
write the standalone books, because there aren’t as many plot
points and subplot threads that need to be managed and kept track of.

How
would you define One Small thing, your upcoming novel?

It’s
a book about struggle, second chances, and forgiveness. Both the hero
and heroine have to overcome obstacles in their path, and the
friendship they develop helps them come to terms with elements of
their past.

Can
you introduce your main characters Beth and Chase?

Beth
is sick of living in her sister’s memory, resentful of her parents,
and ready to just do something, anything, to feel like her own,
separate person.

Chase
is ready for a fresh start. He’s got his own demons and he’s
afraid he’ll tarnish Beth if he lets her close, but he doesn’t
want to let her go either.

Why
did you choose to create a novel where forgiveness , guilt and
bullying is present?

We
wanted to create something that felt real. Guilt, forgiveness –
these are common emotions that we experience. Bullying is also a
common theme we see with people our characters’ ages. We wanted a
book that you could escape into, but where you could also relate to
the characters and their struggles.

What
are your characters' force and flaws?

Chase’s
strength is his resilience, but his flaw is not being able to forgive
himself for past mistakes. Beth, on the other hand, has the strength
of forgiveness. And her biggest flaw is acting impulsively.

Let's
talk about Scarlett and Jeffrey . They are secondary characters but
so important for the plot. How will they interact with our heroes.
What is their role?

Scarlett
and Jeffrey impact the plot in an important way, but it’s hard to
get into detail about it without spoiling the book!

What
would you do if you were in Dave and Marnie's shoes? Would you act as
they did?

Everyone
deals with loss and grief in their own way, and Beth’s parents Dave
and Marnie haven’t handled theirs in a way that Beth understands.
Their added fear of going through it again made them pretty extreme.
While we don’t think we’d react in quite the same way, we’d be
very happy to never find out.

What
is the One small thing that make you smile? Cry?

We
can’t answer this without revealing spoilers!

Was
there a scene which was hard to write?

A
lot of the scenes were difficult to write due to their specific
content. Some of the heavier emotional scenes, and abuse scenes, for
sure. It’s difficult sometimes to work out how to get a message
through without losing focus of who your readers are.

Did
you "delete" a scene and if so why?

There’s
always a deleted scene in every book. Sometimes you realize it’s
just unneeded, and sometimes you decide to take the story in a
different direction. The key is that by deleting it you’re making
the book better.

You
attended your first signing at Apolicon in Washington this year. Will
French readers will be able to see you one day in France for a
signing?

We hope so! We
would love to travel more and meet more of our international readers.
We don’t have any immediate plans to come to France, but we hope to
someday!

Do
you have a last word for your French readers?

Thank you so much
for reading! We love that readers from all over the world have been
able to fall in love with our stories.